Trump to Speed Up U.S. Arms Sales by Reducing Oversight, Sources Say

The White House is pushing to implement as early as March a plan that would make it easier to sell some weapons to foreign partners through a process some say eliminates key regulatory and congressional oversight, government officials and staffers tell U.S. News.

The proposal, first reported by Reuters in September, would affect the sale of small weapons and ammunition, delighting proponents who say the current process is too cumbersome while raising concerns among some experts about the risk of deadly arms falling into the wrong hands.

The new rules would transfer the oversight for the U.S. to sell some weapons like rifles and shotguns, as well as the ammunition for them, from the State Department to the Commerce Department, which some experts and officials say is far less prepared than its internationally oriented counterpart to vet potential foreign buyers.